After The Storm
by fairytalemanipulator
Summary: Oneshot. Lindsey is traumatized by a case gone awry and Danny, like always, is there to help her see the light again. DL pairing, a little MacStella. Review please!


**Title: After The Storm**

**Author: fairytalemanipulator**

**Summary: Oneshot. Lindsey is traumatized and Danny, like always, is there to help. DL pairing, a little Mac/Stella.**

**Disclaimer: CSI:NY does not belong to me, I just tweak the characters every which way. **

**This was inspired by a recent thunderstorm…they're great for writing. It's a bit long, but splitting it up would have caused it to lose some of the flavor. Sorry!**

**Reviews would be so greatly appreciated!**

She barely heard the thunder in the distance as she sat on the tile floor of a bathroom. Disoriented, she could concentrate only on the pictures she couldn't get out of her head. Of the child, the seven year old boy, that died in her arms after being shot by his stepfather. _And I couldn't save him. _A classic case gone wrong. But Lindsey was new to this feeling of helplessness and sadness—and _guilt._

The door to the ladies' room opened, slamming against the other side in haste. With the open door came the sounds of the CSI laboratory; phones ringing, low voices conversing as they walked past. Everyone was still working. Things were still happening. _Kids were still dying. The world is turning._

"Montana?"

Lindsey looked up, shocked, regaining her bearings. It barely registered in her mind that Danny Messer was in a women's bathroom. She could have reacted, could have made a joke; but she didn't. She was just glad he was there.

Danny sat down next to her on the cold, hard floor. His cell phone pinched his skin, so he removed it from his pocket, placing it next to her on the tile.

"I heard about what happened. I'm sorry," Danny knew it would have hit her hard…she was the type of person that carried the weight of the world.

"I should have known," Lindsey spoke in a monotone, her usually expressive face blank. "I should have known that the guy killed his wife and I should have known the kid was in danger,"

"You're not a mind reader, Linds. You read the evidence the best you can,"

"And what if that's not good enough?" Danny was surprised by the raw emotion in her voice. It cracked on the last note, and she wrapped her arms around her knees, resting her chin atop the bundle. Danny's heart broke at the sight. Wanting to reach out to her, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, lemme take you home," he said, at a loss for anything else. "It's pretty late, and people are leaving,"

Lindsey heard the distant vibration of thunder. "Is it raining?"

"Raining cats and dogs," he replied with a typical Danny smirk. "Come on, you can't stay in here forever,"

Lindsey sighed. _Yes. Yes I can. _But she acquiesced, knowing that he had that hold on her. That strong, solid grip that she knew wouldn't let her down.

He grabbed her hands, pulling her into an upright position. She swayed on her feet, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to steady her. Danny and Lindsey made their way out the door, drawing curious looks from the remaining CSI personnel. Stella had taken the late shift, and she poked her head out of her lab.

"Anything I can do?" She questioned, taking in the sight. _Poor Lindsey._

"Nah, I got it," Danny gave her a half-smile, turning his attention back to his bundle of emotion.

Stella watched them until they disappeared into the elevator. She sighed, knowing that Lindsey was in good hands with Danny. _And who knows. Maybe they'll finally have a little chat of their own. _

"Everyone knows how they feel about each other," Mac's voice at her ear made Stella jump a foot. "Maybe they'll admit it to themselves now,"

He disappeared down the stairs, smiling a secret smile at Stella. Unknowingly, her lips curved up as well.

……………………

The ride home was uneventful, punctuated by static on the radio and the cascade of water pounding on the windshield. Lindsey was silent, and Danny didn't try to make small talk, as he thought it a waste of words. _She's in her own world, _Danny thought, catching her tracing invisible words on her window. _The rain running down the car looks like tears, _he found himself thinking subconsciously. _Her tears._

Lindsey broke herself out of her trance when they pulled up in front of her apartment. She thanked Danny for the ride, her eyes devoid of emotion. However, he was not going to let her go easily.

"I'll walk you up,"

"Really, Danny, I'll be fine—"

"No, it's okay. I'll do it."

They sprinted for the pavilion covering the stairs, running between raindrops. Drenched and uncomfortable, Danny followed Lindsey up the stairs. Her hair was plastered to her forehead, and Danny watched as it curled into a tight, defined ringlet. He wondered why he had never noticed what great hair she had.

Lindsey fumbled with her key, aware that Danny was scrutinizing her. "I'm fine, Danny, really,"

"Oh, right." His sarcastic response was just what she needed to push her buttons. She whirled around, keys still in her hand.

"I'm an adult, Danny! I can handle this on my own! Just because Mac told you to take me home and watch out for me doesn't mean I need my own personal babysitter! I knew what I was getting into when I took this job, okay? I can handle this! I can!"

Danny let her vent, her words and her anger washing over him like the torrential rain outside. He knew that she wasn't confronting him as much as she was talking to herself.

"Mac didn't tell me to do anything," was his only quiet response. His eyes glinted behind his glasses as he examined her expressions. Lindsey was angry, and it showed. Her entire body was poised for a fight, and Danny took in the silhouette he had admired for months.

Lindsey gaped, not sure what to say. Her head dropped, and she looked through her wet hair at Danny's face. He was wearing an unsure smile, hands burrowed in his pockets. She had never seen this side of him before; the quiet, slightly shy Danny Messer. His glasses were speckled with drying rain, and his hair matted in five different directions.

_Oh._

"Danny, I'm—"

"No, it's okay. I totally understand, alright? I'll see ya tomorrow, kid,"

He turned and was halfway down the hall before Lindsey caught up with him. She grabbed him by the damp jacket sleeve, halting him in his tracks.

"Wait."

He stopped, feeling electrical heat from her touch. _Literally. _Her hands were warm, and they grappled with his jacket as she searched for words.

"Can you—do you want to come in?"

Danny looked into her eyes, and saw the truth of the matter. She was lonely. _Who could blame her? All alone in this city._ And she was scared. Because she had _one helluva day._

"Sure," he gave her a non-intimidating smile, as he took her keys from her hand and walked her back to her place. Unlocking to door, Danny steered her inside. He followed, shutting the door. Danny was immediately conscious of the imprints his shoes were making in the carpet.

"You can take them off," Lindsey commented, tossing her own into the hall closet. It was a spacious apartment, with minimal furnishings. _Guess she isn't here too often._

"Do you want anything to drink?" Lindsey was looking at him, sizing him up. _For what? _Danny asked himself.

"No, I'm good," he commented, more to himself. He took in his surrounding, settling himself on the couch with one socked foot over the other.

Lindsey sat next to him. She could feel the warmth of his body.

"Hang on," she said. Quickly, she reached up and snatched his glasses.

"Hey!"

"There's rain on them," she said, breathing on them. She wiped away the fog with the hem of her blouse. "There."

Lindsey reached over, repositioning the glasses on Danny's face. Her hands rested there for a moment, appreciating the fine curves. Just when she was about to remove them, Danny reached up and grabbed her hands.

Both of them breathing hard, they looked into each other's eyes. Lindsey couldn't hold his gaze, knowing that the eyes were the window to the soul, and he was telling her secrets without words. Danny looked at her, saw the blush on her cheeks, and couldn't resist himself. He moved her hands towards him and rested a gentle kiss on the curve of her lips.

Lindsey closed her eyes, feeling him touch her in places she'd never been touched before. She took back her hands, running them over his dangerously hard muscles and feeling his tongue pushing against her teeth.

Neither of them said anything, but they were perfectly in sync. Danny picked her up and carried her over the threshold of her bedroom, putting her down on the bed. She was fierce and rough, and a little sad and confused, and he didn't push her harder than she wanted to go. When it was over, they lay on her bed, covers awry, clothes thrown around, buttons pulled off—knowing that it was what they wanted. Lindsey rested her head against his stomach, running a finger up and down his chest.

"So," she said.

"So," he replied. And he kissed her. Because they didn't have to say anything else.

……………..

As the alarm clock went off, Lindsey opened her eyes. She reached over, shutting off the noise, and sat up in the sudden silence. She surveyed the mess of her room, and eyed the man spread across her bed with a smile. Getting up quietly without disturbing him, she grabbed a robe and went to start a pot of coffee.

She had cried last night, and talked herself out. And he had listened, and comforted her, rubbed circles on her back when she hiccupped herself sick.

"_I never thought that I would feel something like that," she had sobbed, reliving the suffering she had seen. "He was just a kid!"_

"_I never would have wanted you to feel that, Linds. But you need to know that there was nothing you could have done differently, nothing you could have changed to make it better. Shit happens, and sometimes innocent people are the victims. And our job is to make sure those people get justice; you did the very best you ever could." Danny kissed her cheek, feeling to satin of her skin under the dried tears. Her sniffles were muffled as she cuddled up with him, their bare skin touching._

_She fell asleep on his arm, and he hadn't moved until she did._

She would go to work that day, and act like nothing happened. He would drive her there, drop her off, and park the car so they could enter separately. But everyone in the lab saw the secret glances and sly smiles exchanged, and no one missed the fact that Danny took his lunch break at the same time as Lindsey.

"Good to know that she's doing okay," Mac commented, watching as the pair chatted out of the corner of their mouths at the microscopes.

"He's the reason she's doing okay," Stella laughed. _Finally._

Lindsey _was _doing okay. And she knew that she would heal from this experience, and learn from what happened. It would always be in her heart, but she could move on from the pain and guilt. _Because now, I have Danny. He'll take care of me, he always does._

"By the way," she whispered, cornering Danny in the hall. "I thought you would have missed this by now,"

Lindsey brandished his cell phone, waving it in front of his nose with childlike glee.

"Where did you find it?" Danny's eyes were wide behind his glasses. He thought he'd lost it, and knew Mac would never let him live it down if he did.

"The ladies' bathroom,"

Her laugh bubbled out as she turned on her heel and made her way down the hall. She knew he was watching her, and she tossed her hair back to make her point.

"Hey Montana!"

Lindsey turned at the holler. "Yeah?"

"What are you doing tonight?"

She smiled. "It depends,"

"Wanna go out to dinner with me?"

"Thought you would never ask," Lindsey sidled up beside him so that he could smell her lavender-scented facial lotion. _Oh lord._

"I'll pick you up at seven,"

She nodded in agreement, and Danny let out a breath he had been holding as she flashed him a smile and once again, walked away from him. Danny paused, taking in her receding form, before putting the phone in his pocket. Just as he put it away, it let out a shrill ring. Answering it with a gruff hello, he heard an angelic voice on the other end.

"It's supposed to rain again tonight," Danny knew immediately who the owner of the slightly mischievous tone was.

"Hey Montana? I think we'll make do,"

**Please review!**


End file.
